Petty experience

[Mouseman11]

Has anyone done the Petty driving experience? I don't know if this is in the right area or not but I was looking for anyone stories on the experience and couldn't find anything. We're going in October and I think I want to give it a spin.

Thanks

 

[Vavasmon]

DH did this last April for is 40th BD present. He did the rookie experience and loved it. The experience took the entire morning and consisted of of instruction, suting up, and driving (you wait for everyone in the group to finish). You actually drive the car with an instructor car in front.

The take some photos which they sell (the plaque and pictures is a great momento). They have a grandstand where family can watch but DD and I had a girls morning.

Do you have any specific questions? The RPDE web site 1800bepetty.com had lots of info. Their 800 # was busy but the woman I spoke to when I purchased the gift was super.

 

[Mouseman11]

Thanks for the info.

 

[NJDisneymom]

ummm... I've never heard of this. Where exactly is it located?

 

[TiggerStac]

I gave this to hubby for his wedding gift and he loved it. He, also, did the rookie experience. He has more recently done it at New Hampshire Int. Speedway and will be doing it there again in the not to distant future. It was always a big joke with my family about my new husband doing the ride along at my fav place in the world....Racing and Disney, our 2 favorite things. I can't get up the stomach to do the ride along, though...maybe someday

 

[Mickeyfaniam]

my son (18) did this summer "03" He was so nervous going in and thru the whole class. He was so straight faced the entire morning. He had never even driven a standard car before. He stalled out only once on take off. BUT I got to tell you the grin on his face coming out of that car...PRICELESS!!!

He loved it so much that when we went to California this past summer both my DH and my son drove Petty again @ California speedway in Fontana!! INCREDIBLE!! They both LOVED IT!! My sons top speed was 143 MPH and my DH did 142 MPH. EVEN my 16 year old went for the ride along. I ran around trying to get everyone on vidio

I say do....worth every penney!!

 

[aubriee]

If you book this, be sure to schedule it early in your trip. I booked the Rookie Experience in January as a surprise for my son for our last full day. It rained. We paid $20.00 for a cab (who got lost) and was then informed that it was nonrefundable. Since we (as well as alot of other people) were leaving the next day there was no way to rechedule it. We lucked out and they gave us a raincheck, so my son is going to the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas in April to do it. The RPDE is only at the Texas Motor Speedway for a week in April and two weeks in July, however. Plus, unfortunately they will not honor the AP discount I used, so we are going to have to pay the difference.

We were lucky compared to some people though. If you didn't have a RPDE near you, you just lost your money. One guy had booked the Experience of a Lifetime and didn't have a RPDE any where near him. They said all they could do was issue a raincheck and he could either come back to WDW within a year or else find the nearest Experience to him. Alot of people were really mad. I was going to give this to my other son when we go in September. but due to their no refund policy decided against it. I could see if we hadn't shown up or cancelled, but since they were the ones that cancelled I feel (and alot of other people did to) that we should have gotten a refund.

 

[Mickeyfaniam]

When booking my son's drive July '03' I was told if it rained or if he couldn't make it for any other reason, (vacation cancelation, sick, etc. ) we had one year to rebook.

I do agree though, plan it early in your vacation

 

[vicb]

We had the rainout experience too at WDW. The only day we could rebook to was the last day of our trip and DH didn't really want to do that on our last day at WDW even though we all said it was ok. He had tried to call that morning because it was obviously raining too hard to race but was told he had to go to the track to get his raincheck certificate. So he took a cab to the track and said the folks there were really nice. They gave him a ride around the race track in a van then drove him back to the front door of the BWI! His Petty driver convinced him to take the raincheck and do the drive back home in Michigan at MIS. MIS is a bigger track and you can drive faster than you can at WDW. So that convinced DH and he made his drive up a few months later in May. He loved it and the RPE people are great, they really make it special. They were especially nice to all the kids who came to watch their parents.

As luck would have it, my DH broke his wrist just 2 weeks after doing the RPDE ! Boy would he have been bummed out to have missed it twice!

 

[kmermaid]

Also book this for DH for our trip in April. If you have AAA be sure to tell them. I got 20% off!

 

[Simba's Mom]

DH did this last trip, and had that same grin! It's so funny, when he handed me his glasses before he put his helmet on, his hands were shaking-no, he wasn't scared, he was giddy with excitement. He's usually such a stoic person so this was funny to see. Then he spent the rest of the afternoon alternately calling all his friends/coworkers back home to tell them all about it, and repeating to me, "Did I tell you that was fun?" He's definitely saving up to do it again, and now he knows immediately what he'd do if he hit the lottery-do the RPE every trip.